eric hartmann

Eric Hartmann - Every aviation aficionado knows that Hartmann reached the top score ever. Credited with 352 kills, he was also shot down several times himself. Hartmann flew the 109 exclusively. He admitted that he was not a master at gunnery, or deflection shots, but he developed a technique that worked for him - simple and impressively effective. This is a rendering of Hartmann's famous rudder; the original no longer exists. He apparently didn't keep score throughout his career with the Luftwaffe, as no photographic record shows a higher score than that depicted here.